Note 24 — Memoir

Rice and nely are the two articles which are always wanting in Jaffnapatam, and, as the matter is one which concerns the maintenance of life, great attention must be paid to it if we are to continue to exact from the inhabitants the dues they are paying now. It will be found on calculation from the notes of the Tarrego24 taken for some years that the inhabitants consume on an average no less than 2,000 lasts of rice a year in addition to the quantity produced in the Provinces, The Islands, the Wanni, Ponneryn, and Mantotte, so that it is clear how necessary it is that the inhabitants are not only enabled but also encouraged to import grain from outside. Besides that obtained from the Bengal Moors, they may now also obtain rice from Tanjauwen, Oriza, Tondy, Trincomalee, and Batticaloa, as the latter passage has been re-opened by order of the Honourable the Supreme Government of India at Batavia in terms of their letter of July 3, 1696, which I published in a mandate in Dutch and Mallabaar on October 1, 1696. From this I expect good results in future for this Commandement. I also hope that this will be a means of preventing the undesirable monopoly of victuals, with regard to which subject I refer Your Honours to the letter from Colombo of November 16, 1696, and the reply from here of December 12 following, and I again seriously recommend to Your Honours’ attention this subject of monopoly, without any regard to persons, as the greatest offences are undoubtedly those which affect the general welfare. (18)